Euro 2024 power rankings: Southgate blasts England's 'national entitlement'

Martin Rogers

FOX Sports Insider

Gareth Southgate remarkably took aim at England fans’ national “entitlement” on the eve of his team’s Euro 2024 quarterfinal against Switzerland (9 a.m. ET on FOX and the FOX Sports App).

Head coach Southgate admitted he is frustrated by how the expectation from the English public that the team will naturally have success at major tournaments is at odds with reality and serves to motivate its rivals.

“We are playing a really strong football nation, who have played exceptionally well, have enormous pride,” Southgate said, when asked by the BBC how he felt about being on the supposedly easier side of the Euros bracket.

“I would say that is a classic example of the entitlement we have as a nation, that creates drama and annoys our opponents.”

Following the 2018 World Cup semifinal, Croatia head coach Zlatko Dalic said his players had been ignited by the narrative of England acting and talking like they were favorites. Croatia won that match 2-1 in extra time.

On the supporters’ side, when the crowd at London’s Wembley Stadium began to sing “It’s Coming Home” with England leading in the Euro 2020 final, then-Italy captain (and now FOX analyst) Giorgio Chiellini told me recently that hearing the tune had inspired his teammates.

“We’ve never been to a final outside England, we have only had two finals in our history, three semifinal (defeats),” Southgate said, also referring to England’s 1966 World Cup win.

“Lots of nations who we might perceive as English people to be smaller, have far better records than us in terms of winning things, in getting to the latter stages. It’s half the problem we have. We’re ready for (Saturday) and, as a team, we have huge respect for our opponents.”

In our Euro 2024 rankings, England is only getting as much respect as it deserves, based off its underwhelming performances. It sits at No. 4, moving up two spots thanks to Germany and Portugal being eliminated from contention, forcing them to be moved just below the six teams still in with a chance of becoming Euro 2024 champion.